3/15/2004 @ 3:00PM

John D. Rockefeller

John D.
Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
tamed the early wildcat oil economy and replaced it with a smoothly-functioning–if vaguely sinister–international machine. “The day of combination is here to stay,” he once said, “individualism has gone, never to return.”

Rockefeller built
Standard Oil
by borrowing heavily to fund acquisitions and ruthlessly cutting costs. As historian Gerald Gunderson writes, refineries were consolidated at larger, more efficient locations and tied into new pipelines. Rockefeller also colluded with the major railroad owners to have his product shipped more cheaply than his competitors. Standard Oil eventually became the No. 1 target of the anti-monopolists in government. It was broken into 34 pieces in a landmark 1911 Supreme Court case. The decision set a precedent that would make antitrust policy a major force in America and throughout the world.